Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The Most Honourable Order of The Bath, C.B. (Military) Companion’s Chapel Stall Plate, gilded brass with engraved and painted badge of a companion, inscribed ‘Francis Skelly Tidy Esquire, Lieutenant Colonel in the Army and Major in the 14th (or Buckinghamshire) Regiment of Foot, Companion of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath. Nominated 22nd June 1815’, 190 x 115mm, the reverse impressed with maker’s name, good very fine £500-600

Francis Skelly Tidy entered the army as a Volunteer in the 43rd Foot, with which he served for five months, and in 1792 was appointed to an Ensigncy in the 41st Foot. He embarked with the latter corps for the West Indies, and during he occupation of the French Islands was stationed at Point à Pitre, Guadeloupe, where a mortality of ten to thirteen men daily reduced the regiment to 96 men. When Guadeloupe, after being defended inch by inch, was retaken by the French, the 41st had only two officers and twenty men fit for duty. Tidy was taken prisoner and kept for fifteen months on board a hulk, when he was sent home to France, and was allowed to visit England on parole. He was appointed Adjutant of the 43rd, and embarked for the West Indies as a private person, still being a prisoner until exchanged. On arrival in the West Indies, Tidy was appointed to a company in the 1st West India Regiment, with which he served against the brigands in St. Lucia. Transferred to the 1st Royals, he was 15 months an Assistant Quarter Master General in Scotland, and in September 1802 joined the 2nd Battalion of the Royals at Gibraltar. In May 1803 he embarked a third time for the West Indies, his company being one of three which embarked with sealed orders at two hours’ notice. These companies were afterwards joined by the rest of the Battalion, and took part in the capture of St. Lucia on 22 June 103. He was subsequently appointed Colonial Secretary of the Island. This post he subsequently resigned, and was sent on detachment to Dominica and employed as Major of Brigade and Aide-de-Camp to Sir William Myers and to Sir George Prevost, commanding the troops in the West. He was promoted to a Majority in the re-formed 8th West India Regiment, and appointed to the 2nd Battalion 14th Regiment on 10 September 1807.
He served as an Assistant Adjutant-General at Corunna and in the Walcheren expedition, and as Major of the 2nd Battalion 14th Regiment in Malta, during the visitation of the plague in 1813, and afterwards at Genoa and Sarzana. He became a brevet Lieutenant-Colonel, and commanded in the Waterloo campaign. The Historical Record of the Fourteenth gives the following extract:
‘On the 18th of June the 3rd Battalion of the 14th Regiment had the honour to take part in the memorable battle of Waterloo, the character and importance of which engagement, distinguished it as the greatest event of the age, and mark it as the brightest era in the history of the British army. The battalion was composed of young soldiers, who had never before been under fire, but their bearing reflected honour on the corps to which they belonged. During the heat of the conflict, when the thunder of cannon and musketry, the occasional explosion of caissons, the hissing of balls, shells, and grape shot, the clash of arms, the impetuous noise and shouts of the soldiery, produced a scene of carnage and confusion impossible to describe, a staff officer rode up to Lieutenant-Colonel Tidy, and directed him to form square; this was scarcely completed when the glittering arms of a regiment of cuirassiers were seen issuing from the smoke. The French horsemen paused for a moment at the sight of the scarlet uniforms of the 14th, and then turned to the right to attack the Brunswickers; but a volley from the Brunswick square repulsed the enemy, and Lieutenant-Colonel Tidy, with the views of giving confidence to the young soldiers of the 14th, drew their attention to the facility with which infantry could repulse cavalry. The French cuirassiers rallied, and appeared inclined to charge the 14th, but were intimidated by the steady and determined bearing of the Battalion.’

For his services as Waterloo, Tidy was Mentioned in Despatches and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath. After disbanding the 3rd Battalion, he served with the 2nd Battalion in the Ionian Islands. Sir Thomas Maitland, the Lord High Commissioner, who used to say that Colonel Tidy was one of the few officers who understood him, made him Resident at Zante. Tidy took the 2nd Battalion home and disbanded it, and subsequently, when still a Major and brevet Lieutenant-Colonel, commanded the Regiment in India. He was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel, 44th Foot, 25 November 1825. He served as Deputy Adjutant-General to Sir Archibald Campbell in the first Burmese War, and in 1826 was one of the officers deputed to arrange terms of peace with the Burmese. With his rare gift of conciliating all sorts and conditions of men, Tidy won the friendship and confidence of the Burmese prime minister, helping, in no small degree, to the success of the negotiations. After a few years as Inspecting Field Officer of the Glasgow Recruiting District, he exchanged to the command of the 24th Foot in Canada in March 1833. He died at Kingston, Upper Canada, on 9 October 1835. A monument was erected to his memory at Kingston by the officers and men of the 24th Regiment.

Sold with copied research including a portrait image of the recipient.